Video memory beyond limit?

[Derek12]

Hi
I have an Asus GT730 with 1 GB GDDR5 which I want to OC
According to this wiki table, the GT730 has a "memory clock" of 1250 (5000),
My video card already has a 1250 MHz RAM according to specs and GPUZ.

What would happen if I overclock it beyond 1250? can it damage something, artifact, or nothing?

I'll ask before fiddling with controls.

Thank you.

 

[RCoon]

What would happen if I overclock it beyond 1250? can it damage something, artifact, or nothing?

You can knock it up a few notches, test its stable, and then continue. Use something like Firestrike for stability. Increasing memory clock can increase overall performance, though not by a huge amount. The second you see corruptions in tests, lower your memory clock. You can then play with voltages as you desire.

 

[Ruru]

It will probably explode.

No, seriously, I usually just play games to see if the overclocking is stable, and if everything works as should, then I increase more clock speeds.

 

[EarthDog]

You really want to mess with the core speeds to get more out of it. While increasing memory will help, adjusting the core will help more.

That said, that card can barely game its so slow... You will likely only increase a couple FPS on that card which likely won't make games playable. If you want to play games at 1080p with decent settings, you will want a better GPU. I suggest at bare minimum a 750Ti... but GTX 960 if you have the budget for it will be better.

 

[Derek12]

Thank you for the answers, I will try check if it artifacts
I though going beyond the maximum memory speed for a GPU would not be good, I will try it anyway and check artifacts!

You really want to mess with the core speeds to get more out of it. While increasing memory will help, adjusting the core will help more.

That said, that card can barely game its so slow... You will likely only increase a couple FPS on that card which likely won't make games playable. If you want to play games at 1080p with decent settings, you will want a better GPU. I suggest at bare minimum a 750Ti... but GTX 960 if you have the budget for it will be better.

I mainly play older games, except Witcher 3 and Fallout 4, which it runs decently (lowest settings, 768p) for my standards and I believe my CPU is bottlenecking.

I was thinking on the 750Ti, but I would have to upgrade my PSU, motherboard maybe, and surely the CPU, as it seems to bottleneck in Witcher 3. And I currently don't have the budget
Also I appreciate silent, fanless video cards

 

[GoldenX]

There is no max frequency for the VRAM, only the specified stock one, and the limit where the memory controller is stable.
Just raise to max stable, or where you are confortable.

 

[P4-630]

Also keep an eye on the GPU temperature under load.

 

[Derek12]

Thank you

There is no max frequency for the VRAM, only the specified stock one, and the limit where the memory controller is stable.
Just raise to max stable, or where you are confortable.

On the wiki table, what does the column "Memory (MHz)" mean? I though it was the max memory clock allowed by the GPU.
The Nvidia official site doesn't indicate that, it only says "Memory clock: 5gbps" (?)

Also keep an eye on the GPU temperature under load.

This card had a fan, which was noisy as hell, so I removed it, as there are GT730 passive cards with similar HS.

It doesn't seem to run past 75ºC under full load without OC.

 

[P4-630]

It doesn't seem to run past 75ºC under full load without OC.

With an overclock, expect a higher load temperature....
Personally I would never OC something without a fan...

 

[Derek12]

With an overclock, expect a higher load temperature....
Personally I would never OC something without a fan...

I could try to furmark it on a warm day and stop if it reach 98ºC if so then I remove the OC, or try to mod it with a more silent fan

 

[EarthDog]

I mainly play older games, except Witcher 3 and Fallout 4, which it runs decently (lowest settings, 768p) for my standards and I believe my CPU is bottlenecking.

I was thinking on the 750Ti, but I would have to upgrade my PSU, motherboard maybe, and surely the CPU, as it seems to bottleneck in Witcher 3. And I currently don't have the budget
Also I appreciate silent, fanless video cards

720p = 1366x768.

You would not have to upgrade your PSU for a 750Ti. Most run off the slot and only use a bit more power than your current card.

As far as the CPU bottlnecking, overclock it if possible... but looking at your system, you won't be able to.

 

[Derek12]

Thank you

720p = 1366x768.

You would not have to upgrade your PSU for a 750Ti. Most run off the slot and only use a bit more power than your current card.

As far as the CPU bottlnecking, overclock it if possible... but looking at your system, you won't be able to.

Yeah, my CPU is locked
Don't they require the PCIE power connector?
The ones I see seem to require it

 

[EarthDog]

Some do, some don't. Regardless, its TDP/Board power is only 60W. If you have the 128bit GT 730, its 49W. Not a big difference.

 

[Derek12]

Some do, some don't. Regardless, its TDP/Board power is only 60W. If you have the 128bit GT 730, its 49W. Not a big difference.

No, I have the GDDR5 one, its TDP is 25W.

Oh, the ones i saw are factory OVERCLOCKED, I overlooked that lol


Anyway +200 MHz to core and memory seems to be stable, but I have to test it better

+300 to memory it froze. +300 to core seems to throw artifacts

 

[EarthDog]

Still... your PSU can handle the meager increase. Your system isn't pulling 150W....

slow down on the overclocking there derek.. do one at time... once you find the max for the core or memory, then back it off to stock and try the other. Once you find where both are stable alone, try raising them both up.

As I said though, the gains you are going to reach are not much. I would get a 750Ti and/or save for a better CPU, GPU, and PSU (generic PSUs... BLEH!!!).

 

[qubit]

These cards have very cheap coolers so watch the temperature carefully. I agree with the others that you shouldn't remove the fan, especially if overclocking.

 

[Derek12]

Thank you again

Still... your PSU can handle the meager increase. Your system isn't pulling 150W....

slow down on the overclocking there derek.. do one at time... once you find the max for the core or memory, then back it off to stock and try the other. Once you find where both are stable alone, try raising them both up.

As I said though, the gains you are going to reach are not much. I would get a 750Ti and/or save for a better CPU, GPU, and PSU (generic PSUs... BLEH!!!).

Oh, I was doing both at a time! Seems that memory can withstand +300 just fine, but the core don't, it starts to artifact and freeze. So 200 Would be the best point.
But...
I can't overclock it
Playing a little in Fallout 4 the temperature rose to 85ºC *facepalm* so I immediately quit it. And this is a cold day here.

I will check the 750Ti, hopefully I could get it, even if I have to upgrade the CPU

These cards have very cheap coolers so watch the temperature carefully. I agree with the others that you shouldn't remove the fan, especially if overclocking.

Yes, but it is so noisy, I want a quiet computer with a relatively powerful card (compared to HD5450 or GT210 lol) and I saw passive GT730s with similar heatsinks so I don't know why that fan was there
With the fan, the max temp is 45ºC

 

[EarthDog]

The 'best point' is something you will have to find on your own.

Why don't you put the fan back on and setup a custom fan profile?

85C is fine.. the card will start throttling clocks if it gets too warm.

 

[Derek12]

The 'best point' is something you will have to find on your own.

Why don't you put the fan back on and setup a custom fan profile?

85C is fine.. the card will start throttling clocks if it gets too warm.

Yes, I want to leave a small margin of stability, the highest point seems to be 270 for core

MSI afterburner doesn't let me set its speed (control is disabled), it seems to run at full speed even if it's at 15ºC, I don't know if it's faulty but I can't return it, I could try to mod it, like plugging the fan into a fan controller or something.

Some time ago I had a GT610 which reached 104ºC, because a cable stopped the fan while gaming I didn't noticed something wrong until I smelled burnt. It overheated so badly the core darkened, but the card still worked fine.

 

[m&m's]

Yes, I want to leave a small margin of stability, the highest point seems to be 270 for core

MSI afterburner doesn't let me set its speed (control is disabled), it seems to run at full speed even if it's at 15ºC, I don't know if it's faulty but I can't return it, I could try to mod it, like plugging the fan into a fan controller or something.

Some time ago I had a GT610 which reached 104ºC, because a cable stopped the fan while gaming I didn't noticed something wrong until I smelled burnt. It overheated so badly the core darkened, but the card still worked fine.

You could try GPUTweak. It might let you modify the fan settings.

 

[GoldenX]

What the wiki says is what Nvidia determined as the stock value for the reference model of the card (so it's only a reference), manufacturers can use any memory as long as is one supported by the controller, in your case I think they can use GDDR5 and DDR3, at whatever frequency, but on a low end card they will always use the cheaper one. In really cheap examples they even use lower values, for example my brother's GT520 should run it's GPU at 810MHz, because it's a passive card, Asus set it to 700MHz.

Same with GPU frequency, raise to max stable and check stability and temperatures.

ED: In some cases the fan can't be regulated, the only option there is to connect it to the PSU, to a 5v line so it runs at a ~42%, or modify it to use a fan header of the motherboard (this is the one I use on an old G210 with a broken stock fan).

 

[Frick]

I'd love to see some perfomance tests with and without the overclock. That's a pretty solid overclock you've got there.

 

[Derek12]

Thank you for the answers!
Tried Asus GPUtweak but the same, fan speed cannot be changed
@GoldenX
Thank you I believe I understand now, so it's simply a reference for design, not the maximum supported

I'd love to see some perfomance tests with and without the overclock. That's a pretty solid overclock you've got there.

What performance test would be better, 3DMark?
If my card doesn't overheat i will try

 

[Frick]

I prefer game tests, because you don't play 3Dmark.

 

[newtekie1]

720p = 1366x768.

Actually, technically,

1280x720=720p
1366x768=768p

But the two tend to just be used interchangeably as 720p. For example, media generally calls 1280x720 720p, so if you go to youtube or netflix and stream something at 720p it is 1280x720. In the console world, 720p is 1280x720 as well. However, TV manufacturers call TVs with 1366x768 panels 720p. I think this is mainly because they don't really make true 720p LCD panels anymore. Funny thing, they used to market TVs with 1366x768 panels at 1080i...